


Trials and Tribulations of an Adventure

by lazy_bird



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: AU, Adventure, Bagginshield Seconday Ship, Barduil - Freeform, Barduil Main Ship, F/M, M/M, Modern AU, Quests, Strong Language, The Hobbit AU, bagginshield, ready player one au, virtual reality au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-05 09:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15167462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazy_bird/pseuds/lazy_bird
Summary: When Thranduil enters OASIS as the character Elvenking (an Elf/Paladin) and ends up in a fight with his frenemy Thorin as the character Oakenshield (a Dwarf/Ranger) over a sword they had to fight for but they get deceived by a Halfling/Burglar and a Human Archer/Bard. When the Grey Wizard comes and see that they have destroyed the forest and the tiny village, he sends in a quest to deliver a gift in order to be pardoned.Now the four of them have to work together to get to their destination but soon realize that they are gaining something more valuable and scary than any item in a quest.





	1. Start of the Quest

**Author's Note:**

> The year was 2063 and after the hunt for the Easter Eggs ended twenty years ago, things changed a bit. The class system was still the same but there were more benefits for the poor like, the debts were paid and they could earn more outside of OASIS (the virtual world) and outside since they rule of Tuesdays and Thursdays was still very much active. 
> 
> That meant that people couldn’t play in OASIS for those days. 
> 
> Now, let's get to our protagonists.

There he was, Elvenking with his long and golden hair, piercing blue eyes, pointy ears, amazing eyebrows and the body of a god. In his forehead he had the marks of a metallic crown that knotted like vines ended in a diamond and if the light hit him in just the right angle, it shined.  

Different avatars came and swoon as he passed. His silver armor fit him just right and a velvet grey cape draped over his shoulders. He was just beautiful.  

"Elvenking, here!" Said a girl who threw him a bag of a thousand coins. He grabbed it, went to her and took her hand. 

"Not even the gold in the word can distract me from the beauty of your voice." And then kissed it. The girls almost fainted. Other people started throwing things at him but he apologized and said that he had an important quest he must attend. 

Elvenking tapped the screen for Quests and Rare Items. With his slender finger, he scrolled and scrolled. 

"Whore." Said a man from a dark corner.  

"Jealous?" Said Elvenking still looking at the screen and the man stepped into the light.  

It was a dwarf with a thick black beard and piercing eyes. He had black Norse knots that started from his temple and curved towards the face and ended at the edge of his manly beard. The dwarf had a hood but when he pushed it back, his long and black hair flowed over his shoulders with a few braids.  

"In your dreams, Thranduil." The dwarf scoffed. 

" _Elvenking_ _._ " Thranduil looked down. "Or should I start screaming your name, Thorin?" Thorin scorned. "What business do you have with me, Oakenshield?"  

"Can't a man insult another man in this fine day?" 

"Get in line. You're not special." Elvenking kept scrolling. "Besides, weren't you in the middle of a Dragon Slaying Quest? Or did you give up after dying so many times?" Taunted Elvenking with his medieval accent. 

"I would have won if you had helped me!" Some avatars turned to see who was yelling.  

Elvenking closed the screen and gave Oakenshield a handsome smile. "You should learn to pick your battles." Then he flipped his golden hair back and walked away, leaving a very angry and frustrated dwarf. 

 

In the forest of  _Isengard_ , Elvenking looked for the  _Rare Item_  he had been searching since he could remember. With a cloak that he had earned in another quest, he roamed the forest until he found the cave. Just as the instructions said. 

Now all he had to do was defeat the monster that lives inside and he can get the other  _Sword of_ _Gondoling_. But Elvenking was not about to inter an unknown cave and less if it's at night. He tapped the air and a screen appeared and he looked for items. With one tap, he took a smoke bomb and threw it inside.  

Smoke appeared coming out of the mouth of the cave and in the distance, he could hear low moans and grunts. The ground shook as the thing took its steps. Elvenking took his favorite sword,  _Glamdring_ and got into position.  

A troll, four times the size of Elvenking, appeared and looked down at him.  

"Whoever dared to disrupt my dinner better ready to become dinner!" 

"It is I, Elvenking! I came here to slay you, ugly troll! Prepare to die!" He then charged towards the troll and inflicted a few damaged points but nothing that could slow it down.  

No matter how hard he tried, the wounds weren't deep enough. With a mighty punch, the troll punched him and threw Elvenking towards the trees. The monster inflicted a quarter of damage. This troll was tougher than he thought. 

Again, Elvenking tried to slay it but he was surprised with a kick that took another quarter... now he was down to half his life. There was no time for research! He shouldn't have gotten involved so fast! 

When the troll ran towards Elvenking, a shadow figure jumped from the trees and threw a sunlight bomb, blinding Elvenking for a moment and turning the troll into stone.  

"For  _fucks_ sake, Oakenshield!" The dwarf threw back his hood and smirked at Elvenking—who broke out of character, his accent disappearing. "Do not try and steal this from me!" 

"What are you going to do, whore?" Elvenking stood up and pointed his sword towards Oakenshield. He smiled and held his hands up. "I won't get in the way, I promise." Oakenshield walked and sat on a nearby rock.  

Elvenking looked at Oakenshield suspicious but still walked towards the cave. As soon as he entered, Elvenking was flung from the cave, hitting his back with a tree and losing another quarter of life.  

"I forgot to mention but, there are two more trolls you have to defeat."  

Elvenking used his sword to stand up. "Fuck me..." He groaned. "I fucking... hate you." Oakenshield crossed his arms in satisfaction. The trolls roared when they saw his brother turned into stone. Elvenking knew he was going to lose and what's worse, Oakenshield was there to witness it all. "Oakenshield..." 

"Yes?"  

Elvenking huffed as he straightened up. "How many sunlight bombs do you have?" 

"Now you want my help?" Oakenshield scoffed and flipped the bird.  

"I have something that you want." Oakenshield raised an eyebrow. "I am willing to give it to you if you defeat the trolls." 

"How do I know you won't betray me." 

"It's a fucking exchange, you dumb ass. You are part of the quest and I cannot take the item from you unless you give it to me." Oakenshield looked away. "I... I swear on Moose."  

"Wow... on poor little Moose?" Elvenking nodded. "Well, if you are  _that_  desperate then I guess I can save the day."  

Elvenking made a disgusting sound and sat down while his life force returned little by little. There was no point in using a potion. This was going to be over in no time. "Just get on with it." 

In a few seconds the trolls were defeated and the sword illuminated at end of the cave. Oakenshield tapped the air and selected a torch.  

"You know that a flashlight is more practical, right?" 

"It doesn't go with the aesthetic." Elvenking rolled his eyes and watched how the dwarf entered the cave. 

Suddenly the trumpets of victory sounded in the air and Oakenshield arrived with the sword named  _Orcrist_. He had the smuggest face and Elvenking wanted to punch it.  

"Time for the exchange, whore." Elvenking stood up and dusted his amour.  

"Fine." Both of them tapped the air and looked for the item. "In three... two... one!" But as soon as they pressed Exchange, a smoke bomb was release and they were blinded for a moment. 

"Is this your fucking doing, whore?" Yelled Oakenshield. 

"If course not, you imbecile!" Both of them tried to see but the smoke was thick. "Who goes there!?"  

When the smoke dissipated, no one was there. 

"I demand who goes there!" Yelled Elvenking again, using again his accent. 

Suddenly their heard strings of a guitar instrument being played. Oakenshield got out his might axe and Elvenking his sword. A man with a dark and electric mandolin appeared. He was wearing a dark brown coat with dark boots and an old fashioned collarless dress shirt. Behind his back had a tube with arrows. His hair was dark brown, tied in a half pony tail, he had a mustache and wicked sideburns. No marks on his face. 

"What a party, am I right?" 

"State your name, stranger!" Demanded Elvenking. "Or I will smite thee!"  

"How cute, Elvenking. After getting your ass handed and being saved, you still commit to the character. Respect!" Said the stranger, still strumming the strings. Elvenking could feel his cheeks burn. 

"What the fuck do you want?" Asked Oakenshield. 

"Nothing. I got what I came for." Suddenly a Halfling appeared with an apologetic smiled. He had massive curly, light brown hair, big brown eyes and a wide smile. His feet were big and hairy.  

With his finger he tapped the air and showed them that in his position he had  _Orcrist_ and— 

"The  _Arckenstone_..." Gasped Oakenshield. "How the fuck do you have it?" He turned towards Elvenking. "You swore on Moose! I knew I couldn't trust you!" 

"Idiot! They have  _Ocrist_  too!" Elvenking glared. "How the fuck did you steal our items? That's against the rules. We finished the quest!"  

"Hi. Hello." Said the Halfling. "I am a burglar." 

"That doesn’t explain shit!" Yelled Oakenshield. 

"Right. I have the ability to insert my screen whenever other players are exchanging." Oakenshield looked at Elvenking and he shrugged. "It's actually quite simple." The Halfling raised his index finger. "It all takes precision. See, when exchanging, if another person appears, the name pushes the original name so when you push the screen..." 

"It gets transferred." Finished Elvenking with a sigh.  

Suddenly Oakenshield struck the earth with his axe, splitting the eart. The Halfling screeched and retreated.  

"Give us... our items!" He glared and raised his axe again. 

"Oakenshield, wait!" Elvenking drew his sword and blocked him. "What do you want?" 

"Nothing." Said the other. "We have what we came here for." Silence. 

Elvenking looked at Oakenshield and lowered his sword. "Do you know who I am?" The man nodded. "Then you know we are about to kick the living shit out of you two!"  

 

The fight extended into the deep forest. With each blow, the trees exploded and splinter. The man was a bard and an archer so he had magic by his side. The halfling would turn invisible and throw bombs at them. It was impossible to keep fighting in a forest. Sometimes the sword would get caught up in a tree and had no other choice but to use hand to hand combat—so he had to change outfits. 

The amour was gone but there were a few silver plats here and there. 

The man caught Elvenking's punch. "I never introduced myself. I am Bard." Bard pushed Elvenking with force and Elvenking had to use his fingers to slow the impulse. 

"You are a bard whose name is Bard?" Elvenking scoffed. "Stupid name." Bard shrugged.  

"And my companion is Mr. Baggins."  

Mr. Baggins appeared in a tree branch and waved. "Hello."  

"Another stupid name. I want my items back!" Elvenking ran and jumped and attached a magical knuckle and went for the punch. Bard took out his mandolin and hit a few chords and sent Elvenking flying back. 

"You know, I've heard about you, Elvenking. The handsome and charming elvish paladin. Who knew he had such a potty mouth." Thranduil (not Elvenking) felt the blood rushing through his veins.  

Suddenly something started buzzing around Elvenking. Leaf Fairies flew around him, screaming and waving their tiny green arms. Elvenking swapped them away and turned towards Bard who had an arrow already pointed at him, the tip with fire.  

"Give up, handsome. Admit defeat." Elvenking drew his sword and positioned himself.  

"Never."  

"Do you know that if I let go of this arrow, I can blow half of this forest?" Elvenking smirked.  

"With you in it." 

"Are you sure?" Bard let go of the arrow and before Elvenking could find a shield, a white light illuminated the forest, blinding everyone. 

Thranduil took out his visor and panted. He waited a minute until the light disappeared from the screen and places it back. 

Between him and Bard, a man with a long and grey beard appeared. His gray robe touched the ground and he was wearing a pointy hat. It was obviously a wizard.  

"You reckless fools!" The voice boomed. Oakenshield appeared behind Elvenking and Mr. Baggins hopped down a tree, next to Bard. "The quest I placed wasn't to destroy the forest!" The Grey Wizard raised his hand towards Mr. Baggins and  _Orcrist_  was in his hand.  

"How...?" Gasped Mr. Baggins.  

"This is my sword that I put in the quest. But you are all unworthy of it! Look!" He motioned towards the forest. "You destroyed it! You destroyed the village of the Leaf Fairies!" The tiny creatures appeared, sad and some wounded. 

"Who cares?" Said Oakenshield. "They are virtual." The Grey Wizard glared and extended his hand again, revealing the  _Arkenstone_. Everyone gasped.  

"Are you like that in the real world, Oakenshield? Greedy and apathetic?" Oakeanshield glared. With the tap of the staff, the forest was back as it was before and the tiny village was restored. "A reckless dwarf, an elf with an ego, a thief and a bard with a robin hood complex—I know who you are Bard. You and your friend steal from other players to give to others."  

"We give them to players who lost everything. We are helping them get better. Most of them are children." 

"Enough!" All of them closed their mouths. "Tomorrow is Tuesday so reflect on your behavior—come the day after and we will see what punishment you are worthy off." The Grey Wizard turned around but stopped. "But... to make sure you  _get_  the punishment..." He raised his staff and the four of them got a burning sensation in their arms. A rune the shape of a diagonal  _F_  appeared in the palm of their hands.  

"What the fuck is this?" Asked Oakenshield to Elvenking. 

"Bard, I can't find anything about this—I cannot erase it." Said Mr. Baggins. 

"Don't bother... no one can stop me." And then The Grey Wizard disappeared. 

 

Thranduil took his visor off and just looked startled at his hands. He could still feel the light burning sensation. What the hell just happen? 

Then, the door of his room opened revealing a very distraught Thorin. His hair was in a messy ponytail, his patchy beard was unkept and he was sweating. 

"What the  _fuck_  was that?!" Yelled the roommate. Thranduil took out his gear and stood up.  

"I have no idea." Thranduil was starting to get a head ache.  

"What are we going to do?! That stupid wizard has my  _Arkenstone_!" He banged his fist on the counter making Moose—Thranduil's ten-year-old Golden Retriever, flinch.  

"We just have to see what The Grey Wizard wants. We are at fault here."  

"Oh, so now you act all civil? What, the  _ego_  part got to you? He. Has.  _Ocrist_ , Thranduil! You want that sword!"  

"Well, I could have had it if you hadn't come in and be an asshole!" 

"You were dying! You were never gonna get that sword! It's common knowledge that trolls hate the sunlight for a very particular reason!" Thorin threw his hands up.  

"Just shut up! I can't think!"  

"Well, while you  _think_ ," Thorin mocked. "I am going to check who the fuck is this Grey Wizard to see if we can defeat him." Thranduil rolled his eyes. 

"Just don't stay up too late, we have work tomorrow."  

 

The next morning Thranduil knocked on the door and Thorin opened it with a very sour look. Thranduil took a sip from his coffee and couldn't help but smirk. 

"I told you not to stay up too late." Thorin took the coffee from Thranduil's hand and took a big gulp. 

"Shut up."  

They exited The Stacks and headed to work.  

Both of them worked for a company that deals with character concepts for videogames, movies and series, etcetera. OASIS is such a huge thing that this career path has become top five next too doctor, engineer and lawyers.  

The building is  _always_  busy. People running with portfolios, with loose paper, there is always pencils and erasers on the floor, in each floor there is—at least—ten coffee makers, people talking on the phone for ideas and to convince client to either stay with them or leave the other company of character designs. It's chaos. 

A girl appeared as soon as Thranduil and Thorin stepped out of the elevator. "Oh, thank god you're both here! Thranduil, I need five sketches of a girl who has a mechanic in a dystopian world—try to use different styles and be as clean as possible. We want options! Thorin, right now we are dealing with a bit an art block. Go to room F-11 and yell at them and milk those ideas." Then she left. 

Both of them let out a sigh. Time to work. 

 

At the end of the shift, both of them headed for their apartments. They had decided to sleep instead of going to the bar. Today was especially rough and they needed the rest. 

"What did you find about The Grey Wizard?" 

"I dug around and... he is an Elder." Thranduil threw his head back and groaned. 

"Fuck. Me!" 

An Elder is a player that is fifty-five years plus of age who has many benefits. It is an honor that the company bestow on them for playing for that long and being a witness to the many changes OASIS has been through. No one can touch them—no hacker could ever try and hack their account or their computer or their phone. Not only it is against the law but the punishment of even  _trying_  is severe. The technology of the company is  _that_  advanced that it has to be an inside (multiplied by three) job to try and even mess with an Elder. 

Thorin arrived at his door. "I can't believe this is happening!" 

"Chill, alright? One, it's just a game and two we just do what the old man says. I doubt it's something complicated." Thorin shook his head and opened the door. 

They were greeted by two high school boys. How did they know they were in school? Because the uniform is from The Academy. That's what is called... just The Academy. A place where they don't believe in virtual classes because they have the money to afford interactive classes.  

The blazer was dark navy blue, the tie was stripped with a light blue and dark navy blue, the dress shirt was white, the pants were black and on the lower corner of the blazer, was the symbol of The Academy.  

One of the boys had tan skin, dark brown hair pushed back and grey eyes while the other was a bit shorter with curly light brown hair and brown eyes with glasses.  

"Hi. Hello." Said the shorter one with a smile. 

"Who the fuck are you? How the fuck did you get in here?" Asked Thorin very much displeased with the B&E. 

"You really are no different from when you leave OASIS, huh?" Said the other boy, with a serious face.  

"If you don't leave right now I am going to call the police." Said Thranduil, taking his phone out. 

"Wait. Wait. We can explain. I am Bard and this is Mr. Baggins." Both Thorin's and Thranduil's jaw open.  

Thorin took a few steps forward. "You came into the wrong trailer!" But Thranduil took his arm. 

"What do you guys want?" Thranduil sounded so tired. "How did you even find us?" 

"Where is the almighty Elvenking that fought us last night?" Asked Bard, taking a sit. Thorin couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Why are you guys so tired?" It was a genuine question. 

Stupid rich kids. 

"Elvenking doesn't exists on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We just arrived from a very long day at work." Thranduil walked towards the kitchen and patted Moose on the head. Other than the blonde hair, thick eyebrows and blue eyes, this guy was nowhere near the same as Elvenking. Thranduil was skinny with sharp cheekbones and dark circles. "Now, if you two would be so kind to leave, that would be amazing." 

"But we came here because of The Grey Wizard." Said Mr. Baggins. 

Thorin stomped towards his room and took out a wooden bat. Mr. Baggins' eyes winded. "Thorin! Put that back!" Said Thranduil, a little bit exasperated.  

"They are in our property and there is no law that protects two criminals that trespasses." Bard looks at Thranduil. 

"He really has a temper." Thranduil didn't say anything. "Sorry we enter without permission but I was curious of you two and I wanted to see for myself. Are you guys meeting The Grey Wizard tomorrow?" Thorin looked at Thranduil. "That's a yes. Alright." Bard stood up and both of the high schoolers went towards the door.  

But Mr. Baggins went and extended his hand at Thorin. "My name is Bilbo, nice to meet you." Thorin looked at Thranduil with a  _what the fuck is wrong with this kid_  face and Thranduil shrugged. "I apologize for stealing your stuff and looking up your address. It's simple hacking" Thorin took his hand and gripped it a little. 

"You're sorry you got caught." Bilbo tried to squeeze back but it was futile. Thorin let go. 

"What about you?" Asked Thranduil. 

But before closing the door he said, "My name is Bard." And smirked at Thranduil, who blushed a bit. 

Silence. 

Thorin turned towards Thranduil. "Can you  _believe_  this?!" 

"Yeah... and this is what happens when you leave the spare key under the mat again."  

 

Thranduil made some coffee and went to the balcony. The trailers that stacked one on top of the other made it impossible to see anything. Sometimes he missed OASIS where everything was beautiful... but fake.  

"It's a chilly night, eh?" Thranduil looked over his right and saw his neighbor, Gandalf. A man in his late fifties who works as a janitor in the stupid Academy for rich kids.  

"Very." Thranduil took a sip of his coffee and let the warmth cover his insides.  

"I always found comfortable the Tuesdays and Thursdays at night. You can hear everyone talking to one another—real conversations." Here we go... people of a certain age always say the same thing. "Makes an old man lonely." Oh, god...  

"Gandalf?" Thranduil asked, a bit worried but troubled.  

"Don't mind me, son. Have a good night." Thranduil nodded and Gandalf went inside, closing the door. 

There Gandalf sat on his bed, opened a drawer and took out an old photo. Six people stood there, smiling at the camera. Five men and one women. He touched the face of the beautiful blonde girl and smiled. 

Then he placed the photo back where each of them had a silver pin in the form or a diagonal  _F._  


	2. Level One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little bit longer than the last one. Hope you guys like it.  
> Also, if you haven't seen Ready Player One, just think of it as Sword Art Online or Kiss Me First.  
> Hope that helps!

Wednesday had arrived and Thranduil and Thorin got dressed in their gear, placed the visor on and logged in into OASIS after they finished working. As quickly as they got there, they checked their wrists and, to their frustration, the mark was still there, glowing in a faint light blue. From the bushes, they saw Bard and Mr. Baggins walking towards them.  

Who would have guessed that those two were some rich brats? 

"The thieves have arrived." Said Oakenshield, taking out his mighty axe. 

"Oakenshield, there is no point in fighting them now." Said Elvenking. "We must wait for The Gray Wizard and see what kind of punishment he has for us." 

"You and your high horse..."  

Bard took a few steps closer with his hands up. "We already apologized, Oakenshield. Let's turn a new leaf, shall we?"  

"You really are one cheeky little bastard, huh." Oakenshield lowered the axe and scoffed. "Do not think for a second that I will trust either of you." Mr. Baggins scratched his head. 

"My apology is sincere, sir." Said the halfling. 

" _Sir_?" He scoffed louder. "I am not a sir!" Elvenking wondered why his roommate was getting agitated over nothing. He really needs some anger management therapy. 

"Oakenshield, are you going to get agitated every time they speak?" Asked Elvenking, wondering when will The Gray Wizard's going to appear. 

"I'd like a challenge." He lowered his gaze. 

Bard decided to walked towards Elvenking, who had one hand on the pommel of his sword. His armor shinned with the small lights of the sun that escaped the tree branches, his piercing blue eyes scanned every corner and his stance was on guard but relaxed.  

"Are you still tired from work?" Asked Bard. Elvenking didn't meet his eyes but answered anyway. 

"What do you think?" 

"Are you always going to do the accent thing?" What is up with this kid and the questions? Elvenking was once curious when he was in high school but never like that.  

"Does it annoy you, Bard?" Elvenking took a few steps away and Bard fallowed. With the electric mandolin in hand, he started playing a few chords. 

"Nop." 

"Then why do you care?" 

"Because I am curious. You are a very popular player and I want to know you a little bit better. Is that bad?" Bard started playing a familiar tune (from the classic movie from 1995 called  _Toy_ Story) and Elvenking didn't answer. "I didn't think you would be so skinny, though." 

Elvenking glared at Bard who stopped playing. Mr. Baggins was checking bellow some rocks to see if there were some hidden mysteries there. After he found the ring that could turn him invisible, he never stopped looking in the oddest places. But when he heard that Bard stopped playing, he glanced. 

"Are you mocking me, child?" Bard shook his head and continued with the same tune. 

"No. No. It was an observation. I mean... look at you!" Elvenking took a big breath. "Also, Mr. Baggins and I may be high schoolers but we are eighteen and a few months away from graduating so... we are not  _children_." He said the word with the same accent Elvenking used.  

"True!" Chimed in Mr. Baggins jumping down from a tree branch, making Oakenshield jump and snarl. 

"But there is one thing that didn't change, though." Bard started playing around Elvenking.  

"And what's that?" Elvenking asked, still annoyed at all the questions and the unwanted attention. 

"That you are still very much good looking." There Elvenking snapped his head towards Bard who smirked as he walked towards his friend.  

In the real world, Thranduil could feel his cheeks flush. How can a person say something like that so easily?  _No, do not get distracted_ , he thought. There was no way he was going to trust or even listen to this Bard. He wouldn't even tell him his real name!  

"Save your flattery, Bard. It will lead your nowhere." Bard sat down on the ground and shrugged.  

"When will this wizard arrive?" Asked Oakenshield. "I am losing my patience." This time Elvenking smiled. 

"How can you lose something you never had?" Oakenshield punched him, which didn't do anything.  

The thing about the gear is that, when you put it on, you can feel things in the virtual world. It's not as painful as one would feel if being hit by a buss but you can still hiss a bit. It's very expensive and you have to save a lot of money for it (though, they have the third version out of ten.) 

Good thing Thorin and Thranduil are good at saving money. Though not good enough to move out of the Stacks. 

"You are all here." Said a voice from the shadows. The four of them looked towards the sound and saw how The Gray Wizard appear. "Good." 

"Not like we had a choice!" Yelled Oakenshield.  

"Gray Wizard, what kind of punishment will you give us?" Asked Elvenking, very regally.  

"A quest." Oakenshield scoffed at that.  

They all glanced at each other, confused.  

"A quest that if you all do not finish, you cannot go back to OASIS. You will all end up here and try, try again." All of them were shocked by the words. One thing is to go on a quest at the whims of an old man but to go to this extent? What's his deal? 

"You have got to be kidding me?" Oakenshield gripped his axe. "You might be an Elder but this is too much! We didn't sign up for this!" 

"You don't have a choice, young one. It's a punishment." The Gray Wizard moved closer and tapped the air and the screen appeared.  

He pushed a few buttons and suddenly their own screens appeared in front of them. On the top it flashed the word  _NEW QUEST!_  And below were the four buttons that indicate that there were four levels.  

"As soon as you all press Level One, you will commence the quest." Said The Gray Wizard. "You will do as told in the instructions. We—I mean—I created this quest to make you think before acting—to trust one another. Not everything is at is seems—this I will give you as an advice."  

Mr. Baggins took a few steps closer, the screen still in front of him. "Gray Wizard, why are you doing this? We made a mistake and we apologized."  

The Gray Wizard looked down. "Not only you will know the answer as you advance but sometimes words mean nothing and one most prove themselves. You all acted recklessly and now you have to pay the consequences." 

"Isn’t this going too far?" Asked Bard. "This is all a game. Nothing here is real. In reality, there is nothing to prove."  

Silence. 

The Gray Wizard took a step back. "We'll see." And with that, he disappeared. 

Oakenshield took a rock from the ground and threw it so far, they didn't hear when it landed. 

"That old man is a fucking psycho!" He faced Elvenking. "Thranduil—do not glare! Forget your character for a moment and listen to me." Elvenking nodded. "Are we really going to do this?" 

"I am not about to delete my account and start from zero." There was no way Thranduil was about to do that. He had worked so hard for many years to get where he is now. "It's just a quest. Let's just finish it and then pretend this never happened." But Thorin was not having it. 

"Dude... I am not about to play along to the whims of an old man that is clearly out of his mind!" 

"Oakenshield," said Bard. "Why are you so against it? This can't be your first quest. There are hundreds and hundreds of quests that people make all the time with unreasonable demands. Some last years to finish. This is nothing new." Bard was right. There was one quest were the demand was to hop in one leg. 

Quests can be risky but most of the time they are worth it. The higher the difficulty, the sweeter the prize. Onetime Elvenking went on one that lasted a year where he had to save a whole village from Orcs and the only way he won was by creating an army of other players. That is how he got so popular. Many players listened to him and trusted him. After that, he had the amazing armor that he wears all the time. 

"Those quests I could quit. Not this one! How are you guys so calm?"  

Mr. Baggins bit his lip. "It's kind of sketchy but Oakenshield," he looked up. "We don't have a choice." 

 

When the four of them pressed  _LEVEL ONE_ , the forest got darker. The birds stopped singing and there was no wind. They all looked at each other and then at the instructions.  

It said:  

_Dear warriors,_

_Welcome to Level One!_

_On this day you will venture through the forest of Isengard_

_and help The Brown Wizard defeat the darkness that has plagued his beloved home_

_at the end of the brightest star._

_Beware!_

_Stay on the path or little by little... face your doom._

"Is that it?" Asked Mr. Baggins. "This cannot be all of it?" 

"Guess we have to find this Brown Wizard." Said Bard as he walked towards the forest.  

"Just what I need... more old people." Mumbled Oakenshield as he lifted his axe over his shoulder.  

 

The deeper they went in, the darker it got. All of them took out an item to illuminate. While Elvenking used a sword to light his path, Oakenshield used a torch, Mr. Baggins a crystal bottle with fluorescent light and Bard... he just walked.  

A sound caught their attention—it sounded like a twig snapping. All of them prepared to fight but it was silent again. Sure, this was all a virtual world but it still creeped them out.  

Mr. Baggins took out his weapon as he placed his source of light back into his items. 

"Let's continue." Said Elvenking. 

Fifteen minutes later, Oakenshield stopped. "This walk is too long! Where are the monsters? Where's The Brown Wizard?" His tone was frustrated and a bit desperate.  

No one had the answer and all of them thought the same but if he was going to be this impatient, it was going to be harder than they thought.  

"I have an idea!" Said Oakenshield through his teeth. "Let's draw them out!" He tapped the air; the screen appearing and selected an item. It was a bomb. 

"I don't think that's a good idea." Said Mr. Baggins. "We might get the attention of something worse." Elvenking had to agree with that. 

"Yes. Oakenshield, let's just continue walking." But Oakenshield shook his head.  

"We have no choice!" He yelled. 

"What are you talking about?" Elvenking faced him. Then Oakenshield threw his torch towards Elvenking, who dodged it. "What the hell is your problem?" 

Oakenshield pointed behind Elvenking. "That's my problem." When all of them looked towards the torch. For a few seconds they didn't notice anything until Mr. Baggins gasped.  

"Oh no..." 

"We are no longer on the path." And it was true.  

Elvenking looked at the group. "Let's head back!" But Oakenshield kept repeating to draw the enemy towards them. They kept arguing, their voices echoing through the forest.  

Mr. Baggins was trying to get their attention but those two were way into their fight. Were they always like that? This type of behavior is one the worst things that could happen in a quest. If they don't stop and think, all of them might get in trouble.  

Bard was still looking around but didn't do much to stop the fight. Mr. Baggins heard another sound and this time it was closer.  

"Guys?" But there was no use. Mr. Baggins looked at Bard, who took out his bow and arrow.  

Then Bard shoot his arrow between them, getting their attention. "You got what you wanted, Oakenshield. You drew them out."  

Mr. Baggins took out a small item in the shape of a small ball and threw it in the air. As it reached the highest height, it illuminated and all of them, to their horror, they saw multiple spiders, two times their size, crawling down from the trees. Quickly, all of them were in gear and ready to strike.  

A spider launched itself towards them and Oakenshield killed it with his axe, the creature pixilating away. They were too many and they noticed that the more they stayed there, their life force would go down little by little. It was so faint that it was hard to detect but now that they were fighting, they had less life than they had before.   

"What kind of trap is this?!" Yelled Oakenshield.  

"Just keep killing them!" Yelled Elvenking back, thrusting his sword onto one of the spiders.  

Bard took out a special arrow with the tip on flames. If it hit one spider, it exploded making the nearest spider catch on fire and die—slowly but surely. Mr. Baggins had a small sword that glowed blue and killed one spider by piercing its head. Oakenshield was impressed that that a halfling could inflict such damage.  

"We need to find the path! That is why we are losing! The path prevents us from losing life force!" Said Elvenking but Bard yelled back that it was impossible since they were lost.  

Mr. Baggins gasped at the realization and looked up at the trees. He remembered the instructions and grinned. He looked at Bard and yelled, "I know where to go! The Brown Wizard's house is located on the West side of the forest!" 

"How the hell do you know that, thief?!" Oakenshield grunted as he bashed the head of another spider.  

"In the instructions it said—" but a spider grabbed Mr. Baggins and they disappeared into the trees, his screams echoing upwards. Bard pointed an arrow to the spider but it was too late. 

"Fuck!" He yelled. "I am just going to burn this forest to the ground!" Then he took three flaming arrows at once but was stopped by Elvenking.  

"No! We cannot destroy the home of The Brown Wizard! We have to save it!"  

"But how?! They are too many!" 

"Burn it!" Yelled Oakenshield.  

"No!" 

Then a spider fell on its back; Mr. Baggins's stabbing its abdomen. All of them were shocked that he was still alive. He took out his original source of light and the spiders screeched in pain. The light was burning them. 

"Fallow me and stay behind me! I know where to go!" And they all started running.  

Soon enough they found the path, and in the distance they saw a big tree where a cabin that was built around it. All of them sighed in relief as they approached it.  

"Where did you get that? Did you steal it?" Asked Oakenshield. Mr. Baggins didn't seem bothered by the question and answered. 

"Nop. I don't always steal and I don’t keep them." Oakenshield decided to move away when he noticed that he wasn't going to get a reaction from the little guy. 

"How did you know?" Asked Bard. "About the location?" 

"In the instructions it said that the house was located at the end of the brightest star." Bard made an impressed face and faced Oakenshield. 

"Just in case, that means that the house location is West since the Sun sets on West." Oakenshield grumbled something while giving them his back. 

Elvenking knocked three times on the door when they arrived and stepped back. The door opened on its own, creaking. Elvenking took a step but Oakenshield stopped him. 

"It might be a trap." But Elvenking stepped in either way. There is one way to find out and the sooner they know, the better.  

The insides were filled with wooden furniture, some red ragged drapes covering half of a circular window, there were books in every corner and they could hear a few mice running around. It looked abandoned. 

"Oh! You've made it!" Said a voice that sent the four of them in attack mode.  

An old man with a brown floppy hat and a brown robe appeared. He yelped when he saw the weapons pointed at him. He raised his arms, dropping whatever he was holding.  

"Are you The Brown Wizard?" Asked Elvenking and the old man nodded frantically and with that, all of them lowered their weapons. "We've come here to aid you. Tells us what's wrong."  

Bard couldn't help but think it was adorable that Thranduil was dedicated to his character and smiled. He has never met a person like that in his short life. Usually it was the same boring people who bragged about going to some faraway place in their private boat or some lame joke about the economy. They were the same shallow people no matter where he looked (with the exception of Bilbo, of course.) but that is why he found OASIS fascinating. 

The diversity was so overwhelming it made him giddy. Plus, when he helped other players become better, it made him feel like he was doing something nice for once.  

Bard was pretty sure he wasn't going to get bored with Thranduil (or Elvenking for that matter) 

"Yes-Yes. Allright, well... I am quite surprised you guys made it this far...it’s been years and you four are the firsts to arrive." He laughed awkwardly. "The creatures that live here have been corrupted by something parasitic and there is so much my magic can do. The creatures are called  _Ents_ and they are giant trees that walk and talk." He raised his arms and stretched his body—it almost sounded like a young kid was talking.  

"Why don't we just kill the  _Ents_  that are infected?" Said Oakenshield. 

Mr. Baggins stepped in. "I've read about different types parasites in OASIS that people have created and usually if you kill the brain, everything goes back to normal. So, Killing the creatures would be a huge waste of time." 

"Do you always think like this, Oakenshield?" Asked Bard. 

"Mind your business, kid." 

Mr. Baggins turned to The Brown Wizard. "Do you know where the largest concentration of sick  _Ents_  are?"  

The Brown Wizard seemed impressed. "You're quite smart, Halfling. I do know. A mile from here. A castle in ruins by the name of  _Dol_ _Guldur_ —" 

"That doesn't sound creep..." Mumbled Oakenshield, sarcastically. 

"There you will find the parasite and save the forest and the  _Ents_." The Brown Wizard sounded pleased. Why couldn't the grumpy gray one be more like this one? "Here." He took out from his brown satchel a dark blue rock and gave it to Mr. Baggins. "Put this rock under the parasite. It will contain it." Mr. Baggins tapped the air and the rock disappeared. 

"Before we march on our quest, Brown Wizard. Is there  _anything_  that you can give us that might help us?" The Brown Wizard tapped his unkept and filthy beard, thinking. A few birds flew and landed on his shoulder. 

Then he stopped and took his wooden staff that was on the floor and stepped back into his dark and abandoned cabin. "What you need in order to win this fight, is to bring something with no teeth that bites." And then The Brown Wizard, disappeared. 

"Do all the wizards here have a flare for the dramatic?" Asked Bard. 

"It's annoying." Agreed Oakenshield. "I hope your cleverness can help us in this one, thief." 

"Would you stop calling him that?" Said Elvenking. 

"Whatever, whore." 

 

A few minutes later... 

 

Thranduil's door opened with such a force that one of his framed drawings fell to the floor. Thorin was still in full gear when he burst in, cursing. 

"How the  _fuck_  did we lose so quickly?" He yelled.  

Thranduil took his visor off and went to pick the frame. "Calm down, man." 

"This quest is harder than I anticipated!" 

"Harder than the dragon?" Thranduil couldn't help but tease. Thorin tried to say something but no words came out, out of anger. "Look, let's try again, alright?"  

"We can't! We have to wait until Friday!" Thranduil looked at him confused. "Dude, we have to wait twenty-four hours to enter the quest again and since tomorrow is Thursday..." 

"Oh god..." Thranduil groaned and Thorin threw his arms up. 

Suddenly there was a ping on Thranduil's computer. A new message and it was from Bard.  

 **Bard45x:**   _So... we can't continue the quest until Friday. Do you guys want to meet at my place? I have extra gear :)_  

Thorin looked over Thranduil's shoulder. "Hell no. I am not going." 

"I don't like the idea either." 

"I sense a  _but_." 

" _But_ , what else do we have to lose? If we are all in one place, we can think better." 

"Or kill one another..." Thorin grumbled and Thranduil looked at him like he had said something very stupid. 

"Anyway, this quest not only seems to challenge us on out motor skills but intellectually. That Bilbo kid is smart and we could use a brain like that." 

Thorin crossed his arms. 

"We wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for them, remember?" To that, Thranduil smiled. 

"Oh, I know. Shouldn't they treat us nicely for it?" Thorin raised his eyebrows. 

"Oh... I see, I see." He chuckled. "Let's see what these rich brats can offer." 

 **ElvenKing2040:**   _Time and address._  

 **Bard45x:**   _Don't worry, we'll pick you up. Be ready at five :D_  

Thorin rolled his eyes and left the room. This kid is really something.   

 

There was a knock on the door. Thranduil stood up and saw through the peephole that it was his neighbor.  

"Good evening, neighbor." Said Gandalf. "Sorry to disturb you at such hour but I seem to run out of sugar. A friend of mine popped in uninvited and he likes his tea with a bit of sugar." He had a small container with the label  _Sugar_  on it. 

"Sure, come in." Thranduil headed for the kitchen with the container.  

"I really do apologize." 

"Do not worry. White or brown?" Asked Thranduil as he took his own container, next to the coffee. 

"Brown would fine, thank you." Then Thranduil gave the container back.  

"I guess you won't be lonely tonight." 

"Excuse me?" 

"You said that Tuesdays and Thursdays make you lonely." Gandalf remembered and nodded. 

"Right. Ghosts from the past. Thank you again, Thranduil. Good night." Thranduil nodded and closed the door.  

He really is an odd man. 

 

The next day Thranduil and Thorin arrived with the same chaos as always. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the worst because no one was playing so the productivity in the world doubled. One would think that those free days people would take it easy but it was quite the opposite in business.  

"Thorin, please... go to A-3 and knock some sense in that group," said the girl that always greet them. "they can't seem to agree on the color of the hair of the protagonist of the new Nintendo game. They will fill you in and Thranduil... you are one of our best and I think you can handle this client. So far he has rejected every single sketch that we have provided and it's time to bring the big guns." Thranduil ate the last of his bagel and got to work. 

The client was a stubborn ass but they got through to him. All they needed was to sit down and draw next to him and listen. He was angry because some artists just drew what was told without asking for more details and Thranduil liked to go the extra mile.  _Do you want her with earrings? How big? Does she have gloves? How big the feet? Dark skin or tanned? Do you want her to be serious or spunky?_ And so on. It's all in the little details. 

But he was  _so_  tired when he got home that when he entered his room, he threw his body on his bed.  

 _Ping!_  

There was a new message and it was from Bard. 

 **Bard45x:**   _You there?_  

Thranduil looked at it for a moment and took his phone out. There was an app that could link their accounts and see other people's profile, check the new quests and items, the latest news and instant messaging.  

 **ElvenKing2040:**   _Yes_  

 **Bard45x:**   _Tired?_  

Why does he always ask that? 

 **ElvenKing2040:** _You ask that a lot._   

 **Bard45x:**   _Can't I? :/_  

 **ElvenKing2040:** _It's weird._  

 **ElvenKing2040:**   _But I am. Just got home from work._  

 **Bard45x:**   _Long day? I had a pretty long day too. If you are wondering._  

Thranduil scoffed.  

 **ElvenKing2040:** _Yes. I bet interactive classes are hell._  

Thranduil wanted it to sound sarcastically but that's pretty tough through text. 

 **Bard45x:** _Not really. I like the classes. The people not so much. Bunch of snobs._  

 **ElvenKing2040:** _Really? How so?_  

 **Bard45x:** _Shallow and boring. I rather play in OASIS_. 

 **ElvenKing2040:**   _Spoken like a true kid._  

There was a pause. Thranduil knew that Bard didn't like to be called a kid but he sometimes acted like it. Thranduil was very immature when he was that age and there were times where he cringed at the memories of that time.  

 **Bard45x:**   _What do I have to do to prove to you that I am not a kid?_  

What kind of question is that? 

 **ElvenKing2040:**   _Dude... why are you so desperate? Be a kid. Soon you'll be my age and realize that you_ _won’t get to be that age again_ _._  

 **Bard45x:**   _I do not like it. And you sound like you are 40. You're what? 20?_  

 **ElvenKing2040:** _Fine. Should I call you sir? And no. 23._  

 **Bard45x:**   _So basically, you are a dinosaur._  

Thranduil couldn't help but chuckle at that. 

 **Bard45x:** _And the "sir" thing sounds kind of sexy_ _. I can get used to that_ _xD_  

 **ElvenKing2040:**   _Don't make this weird, dude._  

 **Bard45x:** _LOL fine but you started it_. 

 **ElvenKing2040:**   _Good night, Bard. I'll see you tomorrow._  

 

Friday arrived and Thranduil was in his couch, with his sketch pad, studying hands and feet. Even if he was drawing all day, he never got tired and it actually relaxed him.  

The clock stroked 5:00 PM and not a second after, there was a knock on the door. Thorin got out of his room and looked through the peephole. It was a man in a black suit. 

"Yong master is downstairs waiting. Do not bring your equipment. He will provide everything at his home." Said the man and Thorin opened the door. "He is waiting downstairs." 

The man opened the door of the slightly long car and they entered, sitting facing Bard.  

"Are you ready?" He asked with a smile. He wasn't wearing his uniform and it made him look older. No, not older. Mature. He really tried his hard to no be associated with a teenager. 

Thranduil nodded as he looked around the car. As much as he hates to admit, Thorin was very impressed. This kid has this type of car while both of them took the train to get to their jobs. Now, you may think why aren't they getting paid more if they are so good at their jobs? Well, because they are still being paid as interns. Something that the company still haven't changed. With all the chaos that's been happening, no one has the time to ask for a type of promotion.  

Thorin is too hotheaded to present his case and Thranduil is always too busy and/or too tired to even try. By now they should be getting paid triple but since the money pays the rent and other things, they forget sometimes.  

Thranduil could feel Bard's gaze on him and he tried his best to ignore it. The kid said that he was curious—god knows why. There was no way he was going to play his little games.  

When they arrived to their destination, Thranduil wanted to yell  _WHAT THE FUCK!?_ But Thorin beat him to it. 

"WHAT THE FUCK?! YOU LIVE HERE?!" The house wasn't a house... it was a big mansion with a fountain in the middle, gardens in every corner, big windows everywhere and a few expensive cars parked by the entrance.  

"Yes." Said Bard, not matching Thorin's tone of excitement. "What do you think?" He glanced at Thranduil. 

"It's big." Bard smiled. 

"You have quite the observation skills." Thranduil cleared his throat and looked at Thorin.  

A freaking majordomo opened the door for them and greeted Bard with "Welcome back, young master."  

If the outsides were amazing, the insides were overwhelming. It was all so beautiful! Everything was illuminated by the sun entering from the big windows, the floors were marble and there was a big royal stairway the lead to the second floor that parted on the sides to enter the third.  

Thranduil felt so... intimidated by it all. He didn't think Bard was  _that_  rich. Now he regretted coming here. The guy didn't feel comfortable at all. 

From the second floor, Bilbo waved at them with a smile. Bard touched Thranduil's shoulders and motioned him to fallow Bilbo.  

"Everything is upstairs." Said Bard with a satisfactory smile.  

 

Thorin almost fainted at the tech that was in front of him. How can these two be thieves in OASIS when they live in this type of luxury? Was it? Some sort of rich people guilt? Everything was brand new, latest model of everything! They even had the freaking Treadmill 300! If you stand there and start walking then you walk in the virtual reality world. It was round so they could just walk normally. Thranduil and Thorin might have the gear but not the treadmill... one, it wouldn't fit in their rooms and two is was  _too_  expensive! 

Thranduil felt wrong being in that room.  

And it showed. 

"You okay, there?" Asked Bard glancing at him.  

Thranduil swallowed some saliva and shook his head. "I think... I should go back home. Thank you for the offer but... I—I don't want to... I don't think that..." Why couldn't he speak? He glanced towards Thorin who was beside Bilbo checking out the gear with stars in his eyes. 

Thranduil worked for the gear that he has. He spent countless of hours in that building and in his home drawing and coming up with ideas because he knew that in the end it was worth it—it was something for him and it felt so good when he finally bought everything that he wanted because he deserved it.  

But seeing all of this expensive equipment in the hands of a kid who probably never worked his ass off... pissed him off. He wasn't angry at Bard; the kid didn't ask to be born in luxury but it just wasn't... fair.  

Now he felt like a kid. 

"Why don't you try it out?" Suggested Bard but Thranduil didn't want to because he was afraid that once he got home and saw his stuff, he would feel shitty.  

Thorin was already putting the gear on and stepping in the treadmill. "Thranduil... this feels amazing!" Now Thorin was acting like a kid! Give it to him to let is anger fly out the window with shiny stuff.  

Bard looked at him softly. Now that Thranduil had a better view of him, he noticed that his eyes were gray. What an odd color... "We can't do this without you, Thranduil."  

In the end, Bard was right. The sooner they ended this quest the better. If they finish it quickly, they all go their separate ways and forget this ever happened.   

Thranduil nodded and he geared up and the four of them were at the entrance of  _Dol_ _Guldur_  where they all died in seconds.  

It was as dark and creepy as they left it.  

Slowly they walked in, cautious this time. There were a few things that they learned before they died: Mr. Baggins' light didn't work, the sick  _Ents_ looked sad and in pain, striking it wouldn't do much, only caused the  _Ents_ to feel pain and it was  _impossible_ to get near it. How could they kill something that they couldn't kill first hand? 

"Did you figure out The Brown Wizard's riddle... Mr. Baggins?" Mr. Baggins looked at Oakenshield and gave him a surprised smile. Sure, get Thorin new toys and he'll behave like a loyal dog. Elvenking couldn't help but groan at that.  

But the smile faded... "I really didn't... have the time to look for the answer." Thorin blinked in surprised.  

Suddenly a dark vine came out from one of the corners and hit Oakenshield from the side. His life force went down a quarter. "For the love of... Bard... you bastard... lower the pain on the gear... fuck!" He groaned. Bard made an apologetic face and suddenly Oakenshield could breathe again. 

"Sorry, the new gear is a little bit tricky." 

They all started fighting but it was the same as before. Every time the dark vine hit them, they would lose a quarter of life. If this kept going, they had to wait another twenty-four hours.  

"No teeth that bites. No teeth that bites." Mr. Baggins repeated to himself. Why couldn't he figure it out? He was very good at puzzles and riddles but this one... he knew the answer was simple and maybe that was why he couldn't answer it. He was so used to complicated things that maybe something simple made him doubt the answer. 

He lied when Thorin asked him. Mr. Baggins tried and failed.  

"Mr. Baggins, we need that brains of yours!" Said Elvenking while pushing a dark vine with his sword.  

Mr. Baggins looked the variables again in his head: the parasite is some sort of plan that can manipulate other flora but... the  _Ents_ are more than that. How can he place the blue rock under the parasite if it continues to attack like that? There has to be a way to immobilize it…  

"Oh my god!" Mr. Baggins jumped in excitement but ducked down as vine almost hit him. "I got it! I got the answer!" 

"About—About fucking time!" Thorin was hit again, reaching his last quarter of life.  

"Bard! Take your mandolin—not that one! The one that you got at the  _Caradhras_ mountain where had to defeat the Yeti looking monster! I need a spell!" Mr. Baggins started running and took the blue rock from his items. 

Quickly Bard took his mandolin—this one was white one with dark markings. "What kind of spell!?" 

"Something that could freeze it! What can bite but has no teeth?" Mr. Baggins slid under a big vine and continued running. 

"COLD!" They all said at the same time and Bard strummed a rhythm and suddenly the vines began to freeze until it reached the parasite.  

It screeched in pain and Bilbo used the ice from the ground to slide beneath it. It was so dark that they never truly saw its form but at that point it didn't matter. Mr. Baggins placed it bellow it and the rock started to glow and they saw how the frozen parasite durned into dust and was suctioned by the blue rock.  

As soon as it happened, the darkness disappeared, the creepy ruins got covered in grass and flowers, birds and butterflies appeared and everything pretty much glowed. The  _Ents_ creatures walked towards them bowed in gratitude and all of them looked at each other with awe and excitement. 

They did it! 

"Woo-hoo!" Said a voice. The Brown Wizard approached with a big smile on his face. Multiple creatures like squirrels and rabbits appeared beside his feet, birds landed on his hat and there was even a dear and a doe behind him. "You guys did it!"  

Mr. Baggins took the rock and gave it to The Brown Wizard. "Your riddle helped a lot." That made him chuckle. 

The Brown Wizard looked around in awe as if it was the first time he has ever seen it. "I never thought I would see it happening..." There was a tone of sadness as he said that. "Young warriors, I thank you for your bravery!" He exclaimed by throwing his hands in the air. "And for this I will give you the gift that was promised."  

He extended his arm and opened his palm. There, a golden gem floated in the air. It was beautiful and no one has seen such good quality in an item before. 

"One of three." He continued. "These gifts are called  _The_ _Silmarils_ _._ Get them all and deliver them to The Lady of the Woods and this quest will end." The Brown Wizard went to Mr. Baggins and extended his hand. "Take it."  

The gem floated in his hand and then disappeared. Immediately it went into his items. "Amazing..." He whispered. 

"Ah!" The Brown Wizard took something else from his satchel. "This will come in handy!" In his hands he had like a viscous green, plant thing that dripped water and gave each of them a bit of it. 

"What is it?" Asked Oakenshield, a bit disgusted. He knew that this was all virtual but thanks to the gear, he could feel it between his fingers.  

"Algae. It has powers." The Brown Wizar wiggled his fingers. "It will help you when you start Level Two." 

"What kind of powers?" Asked Elvenking.  

"Where is the fun in telling you?" He roared a laugh. From his feet up, his body started to turn into leaves. "Good luck on your quest, fellow warriors!" And then the wind blew him away. 

All of them looked at one another. "I swear these old me are fucking crazy." Said Oakenshield and Mr. Baggins chuckled. 

 

When all of them took out their gears, they couldn't stop smiling. Thorin took Thranduil by the shoulders and shook him.  

"We did it!" He laughed. "We defeated the monster! Well—the little guy here did almost everything—but still! We did it!" Thranduil laughed at how excited Thorin was behaving.  

Thranduil pushed Thorin by the face with his hand. "Yeah. Yeah. But we still have three more levels to go. If the other levels are worse than Level One... we are screwed."  

"Lighten up, Thran! Enjoy the sweet, sweet victory!" Thranduil couldn't help but agree. Even Thorin, who was panicking about the quest a few days ago was acting like this, it couldn't hurt to enjoy it a little bit. 

"You guys can always come back." Said Bard. Thranduil had forgotten his previous feelings and now they were resurfacing.  

"I don't think that’s a—" 

"Hey," said Bilbo. "we did good today. We can be better tomorrow. We even have the whole day since it's a Saturday." He sounded very cheerful. 

"Don't you guys have homework or something?" Asked Thorin. 

Bilbo and Bard looked at each other and started laughing. "You're funny Thorin." Said Bilbo and he blushed a bit.  

"The Academy doesn't do homework." Said Bard. 

Thorin and Thranduil looked at each other and thought,  _fucking rich kids_.  

They all started walking down the stairs and Bilbo saw that Thorin was extending his hands towards him. He flinched at the thought that he was going to do something painful but it was the opposite. 

His big hand touched his head soflty and ruffled his hair. "Good job, kid. Don't doubt yourself next time." Bilbo saw how Thorin walked away and grinned. 

 

Bard decided to accompany them to their home. The ride was quiet but it was because they were still thinking about the win. When they arrived, Bard rolled down his window and called for Thranduil. 

"Here." He gave him a piece of paper. 

"What's this?"  

"My phone number." That took Thranduil by surprise but still took it. "I don't always use the OASIS app so, if you want to text that's where you can reach me."  

"Why give it to me in a piece of paper?" Bard smiled, rolled the window up and left. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! Some development from the ships!


	3. Level Two

Laughter. 

That's what Thranduil could hear from his small room. He rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands and hopped down from the bed. The laughter continued as he opened the door and saw his father and mother talking and drinking something warm.  

"Oh, dear... did we wake you up?" Said his mother, who got up from the bed. Thranduil nodded and got picked up by her. "We are sorry, honey. Your father has the laughter of an elephant." That made him chuckle. 

"Why hurt me so?" Said his father in a dramatic way. 

"Why are you laughing?" Asked Thranduil. 

Both of them exchanged glances. "Remembering the first time that we met."  

Thranduil blink and he was in OASIS, in a land filled with grass and flowers, the wind blowing and birds flying through the open sky.  

In front of him were two people standing in front of him. One was a man with long blond hair in a pony tail, golden armor and a big sword and beside him a woman with long and wavy blonde hair that cascaded from her silver amour, the tip of her sword on the grass, her two hands on top of the pommel.  The wind caressed their faces that glowed with the light of the sun. She had two light blue lines that started from her eyes and went down from to her neck while he had a gray one that crossed the bridge of his nose. 

"We met in OASIS." Said his mom. "We were fighting each other as enemies—the prize was two thousand coins and a new armor." She took her sword and he fallowed. 

Soon they were fighting with smiles. They almost looked like they were dancing. It was mesmerizing. Each time their swords touched, sparks would fly like fireworks. 

"And like this," their swords crossed and both were pushing. "I saw her," Thranduil's father continued. "and asked her out." She chuckled. "Her face was priceless!" 

Thranduil couldn't get enough of the dancing swords.   

"People would call this  _love at first sight_. Though I was a warry of him." She took her sword and put it away. "I thought it was a scam!" She looked at him with love and he looked at her back. "Accepting was the best decision I ever made, though." 

Suddenly the sky went dark, the three of them looked up and saw something falling from the sky. Thranduil felt fear and dread. He knew something was wrong. He knew something bad was going to happen if that thing hit the ground. His parents took a step closer but no matter how hard he cried and yelled for them to run away, they wouldn't listen. It was as if no sound was coming out. 

As soon as it hit it, Thranduil blinked and he was in front of a burning Stack. His home—the trailer that he lived with his family was caught on fire. Something hit it, causing it to explode. Thranduil's parents were still inside and now... they were gone.  

Thranduil's mouth opened in a scream and when he let it out, he woke up from the dream.  

 

He straightened up and wiped away the single tear that escaped. It has been years since he dreamed about the death of his parents. It always left a huge hole in his chest—it felt so heavy.  

Moose lifted his head from the floor, in confusion. Thranduil sighed and sat up. 

Beside his screen, there was a photo of the three of them a month before they died. Sure, they were in huge debts but they tried so hard to make it work... it wasn't fair... it wasn't fair that Thranduil lost them at the age of five, it wasn't fair that they died in such a horrible way and it wasn't fair that he was never going to see them again. 

He still had their accounts and sometimes, in days like this, he logged into one of them and replay the day that they met. It was a huge battle, people with guns, magic orbs floating around, coins bouncing everywhere and then  _clank!_  Their swords met. It was true... her face was priceless when Thranduil's father asked her out.  

"Thranduil, are we going grocery shopping?" The sudden entrance made him jump and Moose's tail wagged. 

"Is it so hard to knock?" He sounded very irritated.  

"Geesh! Sorry, your majesty." Thorin closed the door. 

Beside the frame was the paper Bard gave him. This kid was definitely playing some sort of game with him.  He might be curious but Thranduil had another word for it: boredom. A rich kid who has everything can get bored in a matter of seconds. That's how spoiled they are and that's another reason not to trust him. 

There was a knock on the door and Thorin entered. "Happy?" He asked. "Seriously, we have nothing to eat. We need to go now." Thranduil nodded and changed clothes and left the piece of paper on the desk. 

 

After they finished grocery shopping for the day, Thorin cooked and decided to watch a movie. It was kind of nice not thinking about OASIS and the quest. Their minds were focused on the screen, their forks going into their mouths, the protagonist trying to escape the serial killer... but just when the killer was behind her with a knife, someone knocked on the door, making Thranduil jump and Thorin to curse.  

"For fucks sake..." Said Thorin grabbing his shirt. He could feel his heart beating so fast. "It's just the fucking door!" He stood up and looked through the peephole. "Thranduil?" He looked at his roommate. "Did you invite the brats?" That took Thranduil by surprise. 

"What? No. I haven't spoken to Bard all day."  

"Well, they are standing by the door." Thranduil stood up and opened the door. There they were in their casual clothes with a few men in suits holding the gear.  

"Hi." Said Bard.  

"...hello?"  

"Why are you here?" Asked Thorin. Bilbo and Bard looked at each other. 

"I know that my home was a bit too much for Thranduil and I don't want him to feel uncomfortable. It's better if we all feel on our best for the next quest." Thorin looked at Thranduil with disappointment and annoyance. 

Thorin  _loved_  the new gear and he loved using it and now Thranduil knew that Thorin was never going to let it go.  

Bard and Bilbo entered and men fallow placing the boxes of gear on the floor and leaving. It looks like these kids either, don't know that they are imposing themselves on others or they simply don't care. Either way, Thranduil felt troubled.  

"Is here were we are going to play?" Asked Bilbo, looking around. They have been in there before so they knew it was going to be a little bit cramped if the four of them played there.  

Moose appeared and Bilbo touched the soft fur.  

"We usually play in our rooms for... obvious reasons." Said Thranduil. "This is a trailer, there is not much room here."  

Bard nodded. "Well, I thought you guys weren't coming. I haven't received anything from you."  _Are you kidding me?_  Thought Thranduil. "There is still time to go to my place." Did he forgot what he said earlier? 

Thranduil sighed and looked at Thorin who wasn't opposed to the idea. But if they wanted to play (and there was no way these two kids were going to back away) they needed sufficient space.  

"Well, I am going." Said Thorin taking one of the boxes.  

Bilbo touched his arm. "You don't need to carry them." Then the men came and took them and left.  

Now Thorin felt a little bit guilty. He knew how it felt to be the one to do all the heavy lifting for others when he was younger. That's why his hands were rough and he had broad shoulders. Since he was thirteen he had to carry sacks of cement, buckets of water and equipment. It wasn't until he took a free online course for character design that he got hooked. He found a reason to work harder.  

Now he understood a bit what Thranduil was feeling. The glitter blinded him because he knew he would never had that type of luxury and it felt amazing. When Thranduil said that they should treat them nice, he thought it means a wider space. Sure, they knew that they were rich but it wasn't until they arrived to Bard's home that they were practically talking to a prince.  

Looking where they live and having them there made Thorin feel ashamed. Oh, how he hated that feeling.  

"On second thought..." Said Thorin looking at Thranduil. "We were in the middle of dinner so, maybe next time." That caught the other three by surprise.  

"Excuse us," said Thranduil and motioned Thorin towards the balcony. When they went out, Thranduil closed the glass door. "What's the matter? It's not like you to turn down an offer like that." 

Thorin rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Your petty reasoning is contagious." 

"They wouldn't be petty if they made you turn down Treadmill 300." Thorin groaned and scratched his head. "Look, you can go but I am not going." 

"One, I don't need your permission and two, I am not going either. That's what I just said. Plus, an adult man that looks like me in the house with two teenagers looks... suspicious." That made Thranduil throw his head back in laughter.  

" _That's_  what you're worry about?" It made Thorin blush and punch Thranduil's arm. They had forgotten to close the blinds so Bilbo and Bard, even though they couldn't hear, they saw everything. Moose looked at Bilbo and his heart melted. 

"No! Look... I just feel bad for them men who had to carry such heavy boxes up here just to make them go down again. I know how it feels and it makes me feel..." 

"Uncomfortable?" Thorin nodded. "Yeah... but what are we going to do?" Thorin sat down on block of cement that they use sometimes to sit. "I don't want them here but I don't want to go their house either... but it seems like we might... hurt their feelings? They are kids after all." Thranduil glanced at Bard, who had worry in his gray eyes.  

Why does he care? After all, it's a game to Bard. 

"I have no fucking clue. 

"That's what an old man wants to hear:  _cursing_." Said a voice rising up from the other side of the balcony. Their neighbor was watering his plants and was crutched down, invisible to their eyes. 

Thorin stood up, a bit startled and a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, man." He said. 

"It's alright. Do not mind me. I'm just watering my plants. But," he said as he placed the watering pot down. "I couldn't help but overhear. Happy medium?" 

"Huh?"  

"Find a middle ground." Then he left.  

Thranduil looked at Thorin, who had a puzzling look. But, Gandalf might be right; all they need is a happy medium, as he said. But where?  Where in the city they could go that's not The Stacks nor a rich neighborhood?  

There are places that are too dangerous. The parks are too crowded, the mall is definitely out of the question and you have to pay the special rooms to play and Thorin and Thranduil already are tight in money after going grocery shopping. They would rather die than let Bilbo and Bard pay for anything.  

"Do you have any place in mind?" Asked Thranduil and Thorin was in deep thought. That meant that he liked the idea.  

"There's the skatepark." 

"No." 

"Library?" 

" _What_?" 

Thorin groaned frustrated. "I don't see you pitching any ideas! Besides, if we ask them, they probably say something snobbish like a private boat or their family cabin." 

"Maybe I can help." Gandalf appeared again, with a smile.  

 

When the two of them entered, Bard stood up from the couch. He didn't know fully why he was nervous. Thranduil rejected his offer but he thought Thorin would definitely go and if Thorin went then Thranduil would easily come. But he didn't know why Thorin changed his mind so easily. 

"Alright, we have a proposal." Bard and Bilbo listened. "We don't want to go to your house—or mansion," 

"Ouch?" Said Bard and Thranduil shook his head. 

"Look, it's  _too_  much, okay? You have a lovely home, it's beautiful but—" 

Bard crossed his arms, he was definitely annoyed. "Whatever, what's the proposal since you don't want us here." Thranduil winced at that. 

"We don't fit, Bard."  

"That's why we came to get you."  

"For the love off... kid, just listen to him, dude. Is it so hard?" Thorin's tone was harsh but it made Bard close his mouth.  

Thranduil sighed. "There is a place we all could go as a middle ground. Our neighbor gave us a password to his storage unit. We just have to do some odd jobs until we finish using it." Bilbo's and Bard's eyes winded.  

"A  _storage_?" Said Bard incredulously. "You prefer to play in a  _storage_  than my house? I am not going to some filthy storage!"  

"Bard, wait—" Bilbo tried to calm him down but it was no use. It was the first time Thranduil had seen him like this. 

"Why are you so bent on not accepting my invitation? I have everything there! We had fun when you came, so I don't get it! And why do  _I_  have to go along with  _your_ plan? Why do I have to accept your terms? Everything would so easy if you would just let me help you!" No one uttered a word while Bard tried to regain his breath.  

When Bard looked up, he saw their eyes on him and he  _hated_ it. Thranduil looked at him like he just proved a point, Thorin—who he expected to burst in anger—just scoffed and shook his head and Bilbo... he looked kind of sad.  

"We never asked for your help." Said Thranduil. "We don't need you to shower us with  _stuff_  that you think we need. You're not Robyn Hood and we are not a charity case." That caught Bard by surprise.   

"But... I just wanted you to feel good." Thranduil felt bad for him. He could see that his intentions were good but they were just so different. 

"I was raised differently." That made Bard snap his head up, still angry. 

"So that makes  _my_ upbringing bad?"  

Again, Thranduil shook his head. Maybe he wasn't getting his thoughts out correctly. He knew that comparing his life with Bard wasn't fair for him and the kid but he didn't want to be pampered. "I just want to play with you as an equal. That's what OASIS is all about." Again, Bard was caught off guard. Now he could see the regal Elvenking in front of him. It all made sense now.  

Why does Bard want to prove himself so badly to Thranduil? Was it because... 

Thorin scoffed. "You and your philosophy. I tell you, it's fucking contagious." Thranduil rolled his eyes. 

Bard realized that he was still, in fact, a stupid kid. He had done things wrong for so many years. All his actions were to prove that he wasn't like those snob rich kids that he took class with and that he had the right to steal from other to give to those who needed the most... but that is just pure and adulterating patronizing behavior.  

Suddenly, his face went bright red. He could feel his cheeks and neck burning. What is this feeling? Bard has never felt like this before and no words would come out of his mouth. 

That's when Bilbo stepped in, touching his shoulder. 

"We accept the storage proposal but only if you let us bring the equipment and you all get to use it." Thranduil looked at Bilbo and then at Thorin who shrugged.  

He let out a sigh and nodded in agreement. 

 

The storage room was very big with a few boxes in a corner. It was dusty and it looked like no one has been in there for a few years. Good thing Thranduil and Thorin brought some cleaning supplies from their home and told Bard and Bilbo to wait a few minutes until they cleaned it up. 

Of course, the rich kids wouldn't be left alone with two grown men in a storage unit and they waited with their young masters. But Bard saw that Thranduil was having fun. There was a moment where he accidently got mop water on Thorin's shoes and he yelled at him, then Thranduil rolled his eyes and teased, asking if he was going to melt like a wicked witch. 

Bard tried to help but one of the men stopped him. "It would unwise," he said. But if Thranduil wanted to really be his equal then wouldn't he had asked him for help? Or all of this was because Bard had wounded his ego? 

When they finished, Thranduil and Thorin were a bit sweaty. "We are gonna change... we don't want to dirty your new gear." He teased and closed the door. Bard was a little irritated by that. He wondered how Thranduil looked without a shirt. 

Thranduil had brought some wipes since he knew there was no time to take a shower and both of them changed clothes. Then they opened the door and the men placed the box with the gear inside.  

"Hey," said Bard putting his gloves. "Why didn't you ask for help? For my help?" Thranduil looked at Bard, who wouldn't meet his eyes. 

"Have you ever touched a mop before? Or a sponge?" Thranduil teased with a small smirk and Bard let out a sharp breath. Thranduil could see the pink rising from his cheeks. "Hey," Bard looked up. "I just thought it would be faster if Thorin and I cleaned. Plus, there wasn't much you or Bilbo could do." 

"So, I am useless?" Thranduil looked at him and Bard apologized. "Look, I am sorry for my tantrum at your home. I thought I was in control of everything... I guess there is still a lot I don't know." Bard looked up and his heart skipped a beat when Thranduil smiled. His hand touched his head and patted it.  

"Good boy." Chuckled Thranduil and Bard wanted to die.  

Bard thought that he was trying to get Thranduil's attention with mystery and trying to look mature. He was the kind of man that Bard wanted to be friends with and he realized that trying to  _play_ with him wasn't going to solve it. Plus, Thranduil was too smart for that.  

When they were ready, they all logged in and dove in into the virtual reality world. 

 

The four of them stood at the ruins of  _Dol_ _Guldur_  just as they left it: breathtakingly beautiful. It was time to hit  _Level Two_  and advance to the next adventure. When all of them pressed the screen at the same time and the message was revealed. 

 _Dear warriors,_  

 _Congratulations on finishing Level One and_ _commencing_ _Level Two!_  

 _On this day, you have to help The Blue Wizard re_ _s_ _cue his brother from a terrible creature that lurks in the shadows whose beauty is blind_ _ing_ _._  

 _Look for the light but not for long because if done, your fate would be much worse than anticipated._  

They all looked at each other, "Now what?" Asked Oakenshield.  

"Wait... do you hear that?" Said Mr. Baggins, cupping his pointy ears. "Sounds like water. Do you think we should fallow it?" And Elvenking nodded. 

The sound got louder as they kept walking, and in the distance, they would see the glittery light of water. Finally, their feet touched the rocky shore of a river where a tall man, with a hooded, blue robe was skipping stones.  

"Blue Wizard?" Asked Elvenking, taking a few steps closer.  

The man stopped his hand in midair and turned towards them. His beard was puffy but short, one eye was brown and the other blue, which looked surprised.  

"So, it's true..." He whispered. The four of them looked at the Blue Wizard and he shook his head. "Aye! I am the Blue Wizard. Have you come here to aid my brother?" 

"Why else would we be here?" Said Oakenshield, already annoyed.  

"Yes," Elvenking glared at Oakenshield, who crossed his arms. "we were instructed to do so in order the get the second _Silmarils_ _._ " He bowed lightly and Bard looked away, smiling. When he looked back, Oakenshield has his eyes on him. 

"I appreciate your help, young warriors."The Blue Wizard sounded... like he was reading a script? The he ushered them to come closer and they did. "My brother is... somewhere there," he pointed at the water. "and there is so much my magic can do."  _Again_ _with this_ , thought Oakenshield.  _They are all_ _useless_ _old men_.  

"Let's just get on with this." Said Oakeshield getting in the water. "If it's a monster than we candle that. If we kill it we can get this over with." The Blue Wizard fallowed Oakenshield with his colorful eyes until the dwarf submerged himself on the water. 

The others went to fallow him but the Blue Wizard extended his arm, stopping them. A few minutes later, Oakenshield came back, cursing.  

"How deep is this thing?!" He yelled, a quarter of his life force gone. Mr. Baggins placed his hand on his mouth, hiding his smile. This river seemed to be different from the other types of river they had dived before. Never have their life force been affected by water. 

"Deep enough to hide a monster, young warrior." Said The Blue Wizard. "Might I continue talking?" Oakenshield grumble something as he got out of the water.  

 "At least you tried," said Mr. Baggins very amused.  

"The Brown Wizard gave the four of you an additional gift other than  _The_ _Silmaril_. If you do not wish to end up like your friend, I suggest you to consume it." Mr. Baggins' eyes winded in delight.  

"Why you smiling?" Asked Oakenshield as he tapped the air. 

"I just find all of this very interesting. I think this is the best quest I have ever been." Oakenshield looked down and scoffed. 

"That's sad." Mr. Baggins looked up, a little bit shaken by the words. Oakenshield cleared his throat. "I mean, I know a few quests that are better than this one. I mean, I've passed them  _all_ ," he bragged. "but I think it will be to your liking." 

"Really?"Mr. Baggins sounded pleased. Oakenshield nodded and The Blue Wizard threw a rock at him.  

Oakenshield didn't like that. 

"Why don't you worry about this one, dwarf? Stop the flirting if your wish is to not die so easily." Oakenshield's eyes winded at the words. He could feel his neck burning. 

" _Flirting_!?" Elvenking smirked and Bard snickered. "I was not—I was not  _flirting!?"_  

"Right, where was I?" 

"Oy!" Oakenshield was so flustered that he didn't know what to do. Mr. Baggins was blushing but he couldn't stop smiling. 

"Ah! Consume the algae and you can  _breathe_  underwater. Now, hear my warning... don't look at the light. It has a very powerful effect."   

"But the message said to fallow the light." Said Bard.  

The Blue Wizard made a surprise face, like he remembered something. "I shouldn't have told you about the light them. Woops." Oakenshield was more annoyed than before. The first old man was petty, the other lacked some screws and this one is just rude. 

"Do you really want your brother back?" Asked Oakenshield, visually irritated. 

"Honestly? He can be annoying sometimes, I wouldn't mind spending more years on my own but I would never hear the end of it." He said shrugging. "Plus, the show must go on."  

The four of them looked at The Blue wizard very confused. The other two wizards... well, they played their part but this one seemed to be done with everything. 

"Then why don't you just give us the gem and we will be out of your hair. We get on with our quest and you can continue skipping stone like a weirdo and brotherless. Everyone gets what they want." The Blue Wizard looked at Oakenshield with and rolled his eyes. 

"I could do that but," The Blue Wizard lifted his arm and opened his palm and a small, shiny blue gem appeared, floating. "I doubt you would get far without the other half." Silence. "My brother has the other." Oakenshield groaned and kicked some rocks into the river. 

With a sigh, The Blue Wizard raised his hand, his fingers apart, then closed it into a fist and when he opened it again, he had four skipping stones between his fingers. 

"Use this." He tossed the stones to the warriors. " _This_  will guide you to my brother. Now go." He shooed them away and continued skipping stones.  

The four of them looked at one another and "consumed" the algae. Instantly their original clothes disappeared and everyone started to grow scales around their bodied, their toes and fingers were webbed and, on their necks, three gills appeared on each side. Oakenshield made sure that his life force was intact and it was.  

All of them swam deeper and deeper and Mr. Baggins took his thin rock and let it go and watched it float. A second later, the stone started to move on its own. The other three did the same and they fallowed it.  

The deeper they went, the less they could see.  

Bard stared for a moment as Elvenking continued swimming. In this form, the hair floating on the water and the shiny scales made him look so pretty. He knew this was the avatar who he was looking at but Bard couldn't help but wonder more about Thranduil and how he wished he could get closer... 

"Did you see that?" Said Elvenking. Bard snapped out of it and fallowed the direction that the finger was pointing. "I saw a light. It moved."  

"We must be getting closer, then." Said Oakenshield. They kept swimming until it was impossible to see. "Halfling, get your light out."  

Mr. Baggins looked at Oakenshield but did as he was told. The blue light barely did anything since there was nothing the light could bounce off, only the four stones that moved deeper and deeper into the water.  

Bard squinted his eyes and saw something floating. An arm! "I think I found it!" He swam quickly and ignored Elvenking's as he called his name.  

He found the other Blue Wizard. The other fallowed Bard and saw the floating body of an old man in a dark blue robe. He was the same as the other one in the surface! They were twins! Bard and Elvenking grabbed each arm and they started swimming. Mr. Baggins was uneasy.  

"I have a bad feeling." He said and Oakenshield had to agree. This was too easy and they still haven't seen the monster.  

Suddenly, something tugged on The Blue Wizard's back and he slipped from both Bard's and Elvenking's grasp. When they looked back, the body just floated. It made the four of them uneasy... Bard swam towards him and grabbed his arm and tugged it. It wouldn't go any further. He looked back at Elvenking who's face changed slowly from confusion to shocked. Bard could see that a light was emanating from behind him.  

When he looked back, he felt a shiver run down his spine." Everyone, take out your weapons!" Yelled Elvenking as The Blue Wizard had its eyes and mouth open, radiating light. The wizard rose and from behind the body a bright light appeared revealing a horrid creature. A fish with an antenna that had The Blue Wizard attached. It had small beady eyes and fangs four times their size.  

"This is a deep-sea angler fish! They only survived in the sea water!" Yelled Mr. Baggins as he swam away. "I don't understand!" 

"I have seen a giraffe with wings, Mr. Baggins! You are not in the real world anymore!" Yelled Oakenshield as he saw the gapping, bright mouth and wide eyes of The Blue Wizard, who moved like a rubber doll, towards him. He just knows he is going to have nightmares after this quest is done. 

"We need to get the body!" Yelled Elvenking. No one was stopping to attack since that thing didn't give them much opportunity to position themselves.  

"We fucking know!" Yelled Thorin. "We need a plan!" Elvenking glanced back at the monster and saw something and he got an idea. 

"Mr. Baggins! I need you give your light to Oakenshield! " Mr. Baggins did as he was told and the light appeared on Oakenshield's hand. "I need you to get the four stones that keep fallowing the monster!" Mr. Baggins hesitated. He was definitely going to get eaten if he got closer. "Trust me! We will keep it distracted!" Mr. Baggins nodded and swam upwards and then got behind the monster.  

"What the heck are you doing?" Yelled Oakenshield. "You just put a target on me!" 

"I got them!" Yelled Mr. Baggins as he sawm next to Elvenking.  

"Bard, I need you hide us!" Commanded Elvenking.  

"I don't think a smoke bomb would work here!" Suddenly the monster launched itself but hit a rock wall, making the earth fill the water.  

"Anything!" Yelled Elvenking as he scrolled through his items of clothes. 

Bard took out his bow and arrow and stopped swimming. As soon as the thing got closer, he let out the arrow and it went through one of its beady eyes. The monster stopped and squirmed in pain. From it a black liquid came from it as it kept shaking its body. When the monster stopped, he launched itself forward but stopped when it saw something floating towards it. It raised its antenna at it as the figure continued moving forward.  

When it got closer, the cloak floated down, revealing the four stones. When the monster realized it was nothing, Elvenking appeared and sliced the antenna, releasing the body of The Blue Wizard. Again, the monster shook its body in pain as Oakenshield and Bard took the body and floated up.  

"We got him!" Yelled Bard as he looked back at Elvenking who was trying his best to swim fast.  

The monster stopped squirming and the antenna had groan again. Elvenking was not going to make it and he knew it. Bard let go of the body and swam towards him. Oakenshield and Mr. Baggins called for him but it was too late.  

"Bard! You need to get the body to the surface!" Yelled Elvenking. "I am going to slow it down!" Elvenking turned around and stopped. "Don't look at the light!"  

"Wait! No!" Bard extended his hand but it was too late.  

The light of the antenna got to Elvenking, who floated like a lifeless body. Thranduil had no control over his avatar. It made the monster stop swimming and this time, it inspected the body. Bard looked up and saw that Mr. Baggins and Oakenshield were reaching the surface.  

The monster opened its mouth and Bard took the opportunity to take three lighting arrows and pointed them at it. As soon as it was wide enough, Bard let them loose and they entered its body. One by one they exploded and electrocuted the monster, illuminating it from inside. There were chunks of meat everywhere but Bard didn't stop until the antenna stopped emitting light. Soon it sank into the deep water where it flickered away. 

Elvenking could move again. Bard looked at him and Elvenking smiled a smile of relief. It made his heart skip a beat. "Thank you." He said and Bard nodded. "Let's go to the surface." And the swam up. 

 

When they arrived, The Blue Wizard was kicking his brother and telling him to wake up. Oakenshield was sitting very far from the crazy old man and Mr. Baggins didn't know if he should intervene or do as Oakenshield and stay away. When The Blue Wizard saw the other two, he stopped. 

"You two are very hard to kill." 

"What is that supposed to mean?" Asked Bard. 

"Nothing. Now, if only this bastard would  _wake the fuck up!"_ He kicked the body again. "Can you four try and wake him up?"  

"That's not part of the instruction, old geezer!" Yelled Oakenshield from afar.  

The Blue Wizard cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled in that direction. "Well I say it is! Unless you want to repeat the level, you grouchy manbaby!" Oakenshield yelled in frustration and kicked some more rocks. 

When the four of them got together, they approached the body. "Now what?"  

"What's that?" Pointed The Blue Wizard.  

The four of them got closer and closer until, " _GAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!_ " Yelled the other Blue Wizard making everyone jump, scream and fall on the rocky ground.  

The Blue Wizards started laughing loudly. The other one stood up and with the snap of his fingers he wasn't went anymore. They really were twins! While one had the right eye blue, the other one had it on the left side.  

Oakenshield wanted to murder them in that instant. 

"Good one, brother!"  

"Thanks, brother!"  

"Just give us the fucking gift!" Pleaded Oakenshield. 

The Blue Wizards looked at each other and shrugged. The two of them extended their arms and two small, blue gems appeared, floating on top of their palms. One went to Bard and the other to Elvenking. Both of them took it and they disappeared into their items.  

"Congratulations on completing Level Two." Said the first Blue Wizard, getting bored. 

"Thank you for your bravery, young warriors." Said the other with the same tone. 

"Here is another gift for—wait!" Said the first Blue Wizard. "Where are my stones?"  

"Huh?" 

"The stones I gave each of you. Where are they?" The four of them looked at each other, worried. "You left them there!? I can't believe this! I can't let you pass to the third level!" 

" _WHAT?!_ " Roared Oakenshield. "You have got to be kidding me!?" He took his axe and walked towards him. Bard and Elvenking grabbed his arms and Mr. Baggins hugged his waist. "Let me have a swing at them!" 

The Blue Wizards looked at one another with a smug face. "He is fun." Said the second brother and the first one nodded. 

"Learn to take a joke." The first Blue Wizard laughed and tapped the screen. A wooden boat appeared from the water and stood still on the shore.  

"This will take you all the way to the shores of  _Valinor_ where you will start  _Level Three."_ Said the other.  

"Good luck." 

"You'll need it." 

 

When they finished, Thorin took out his visor and just stared at the wall. He was exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. Bilbo looked at him and giggled. 

"I need a beer... I need to get laid." He mumbled as he started to take off the gear. He looked at Bilbo who was scarlet red. "What's up with you?" 

Bilbo looked away. "Nothing!" 

Thranduil looked at Bard, who wiped some sweat from his forehead. With his fingers, he combed his hear back. He looked very manly. "Hey..." Bard looked at him. "What you did there was pretty cool." With his hand he ruffled Bard's brown hair. "Are you trying to act as a hero, now?" He teased. 

Bard took Thranduil's wrist and looked into his pale blue eyes. "Do you like me better now?" He smiled. Thranduil took his wrist back and ruffled his hair again. 

"Don't get cocky." Thranduil convinced himself that the only reason his heart was beating faster was because he was excited that they all passed Level Two. 

"Oh! You all finished!" Bard snapped his head towards the voice. 

"Mom!?"  

"Baby!" Bard's mother came and hugged her son. "You were so amazing!"  

Bard struggled to free himself from the bear hug. Even from his tanned skin, the redness was very noticeable. "What are you doing here!?"  

"My son, plus storage unit, plus two men equals worry, dear. I just had to make sure." Oh, no... Bard looked at Thranduil but he just looked away and went to Thorin, who looked like a zombie. 

"Mom! I am fine! You know you never let me leave without some company." He said between his teeth. His mother shrugged. 

"The world is such a dangerous place. I just wanted to see you." She smiled. 

"You don't have too!" 

Bard's mother ignored him and walked towards Thranduil and Thorin. "Good evening, gentlemen." She extended her hand and they took it. "I see you are keeping my son very occupied." Thranduil looked at Thorin. 

"See what I mean?" Mumbled Thorin alluding to their conversation in their balcony. 

"My name is Thranduil Greenleaf and this is my friend Thorin Oakenshield." Bard's mother nodded. 

"Care to explain why you chose this particular place to play?" Thraduil opened his mouth to say something. "When my home is perfectly fine for this kind of activity."  

"Mom!" Yelled Bard. "You're making my friends uncomfortable!"  

"Why would they feel uncomfortable? If nothing is wrong then they shouldn’t be. Besides, as a mother, my questions are valid." Bard looked at Thranduil, who was clearly tired.  

"I assure you, ma'm that we are just participating in a quest. The reason why we chose this place is because our place is small and—" 

"And mine is too big? Shall I call you Goldilocks?" Her tone was sweet but it sent shivers down Thranduil's spine. What a scary woman. Bard could see where he got his good looks.  

"Mom! You are being annoying right now! You always do the same! They are my friends! You tell me to go out and make friends but when I do, you embarrass me in front of them!" 

"Honey, I—" 

"No! I am tired! You  _always_  do this! Wow! I just can't wait to go to college and get away from you—" then Thranduil hit Bard in the back of his head. Bard looked up and met Thranduil's cold gaze. 

"You don't know what you're talking about." Thranduil faced Bard's mom. "I apologize from that." Then he gave her his address, phone number and company where he works. "If you have any doubts about me and my friend, feel free to ask around. Now, if you all would be so kind, I need to close the storage." All of them got out with the gear.  

The men tried to take the boxes away from them but Thorin told them it was okay. Bard tried to convince Thranduil to ride with him but Thranduil told him he would rather walk and take the train.  

"Wait!" Bard ran towards Thranduil. "What did I do?" His gaze went to Thorin who walked away. They were having such an amazing moment! This couldn't end like this! 

"Bard... it's time to leave. Go. Your family is waiting."  

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn!  
> Intense!

**Author's Note:**

> This AU is kind of tricky but if you have any doubts, just ask. I only saw the movie so that's where inspiration comes from.  
> I hope you all like it!


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